Customer Reviews

The Killing Art : A Novel of Suspense

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The author of Color Blind and The Death Artist has written another great thriller featuring cop-turned-art historian Kate McKinnon.

Kate is recovering from the death of her husband Richard, re-shaping her life from the life of luxury they shared. She is working on a TV show and a book on the New York School of artists Pollack, de Kooning, Kline and Gorky. Their paintings are being slashed--in a museum, a law office, and in homes.

One of her fiends has a Franz Kline that is slashed in his home, and is killed when he surprises the vandal. Then the murders begin. Gabrielle Hoffman, granddaughter of an artist and also a collector; the artist Beatrice Larsen, a collector, a museum curator.... Kate is asked to help the art squad, and later the FBI enter the picture to coordinate the investigations in different jurisdictions. An FBI-planted story in the press about stolen art works being fakes leads to the deaths of three more people and stalls the investigation--as they assume one of them was the slasher.

The author has created some fascinating paintings that are the clues in the case, and are reproduced here. His thorough research is evident as is his talent for meshing historic characters with fictional artists.

Armchair Interviews says: A thriller that would really appeal to art lovers.

History and fiction collide with deadly consequences in the third Kate McKinnon novel -- a story of bitter revenge, where the past invades the present and a decades-old secret proves fatal

Kate McKinnon has lived many lives, from Queens cop to Manhattan socialite, television art historian, and the woman who helped the NYPD capture the Death Artist and the Color Blind killer. But that's the past. Now, devastated by the death of her husband, Kate is attempting to quietly rebuild her life as a single woman. Gone are the Park Avenue penthouse and designer clothes. Now it's a funky Chelsea loft, downtown fashion, and even a hip new haircut as Kate plunges back into her work -- writing a book about America's most celebrated artistic era, the New York School of the 1940s and '50s, a circle that included Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko.

But when a lunatic starts slashing the very paintings she is writing about -- along with their owners -- Kate is once again tapped by the NYPD. As she deciphers the evidence -- cryptic images that reveal both the paintings and the people who will be the next targets -- Kate is drawn into a world where art and art history provide lethal clues.

The Killing Art is Jonathan Santlofer's most gripping and chilling story yet, but that isn't the only reason the novel is remarkable. The author, who is also an acclaimed artist, has created works of art just for the book that tantalize and challenge readers by using well-known symbols in innovative ways, allowing them to decode the clues along with Kate. A masterwork of both suspense fiction and art, The Killing Art will impress both thriller readers and art fans as the plot twists and turns toward a shocking climax.

I can't give this 5 stars because of some flaws in the writing, but the plot was so good and was enhanced by illustrations done by the author, who is also a painter, that I really enjoyed reading this for the story alone. The author also puts in a lot of information about a group of American 20th century painters known as the New York School, probably the best known is Willem de Kooning. His knowledge and research in this area was excellent and helped shape the story as well as get the reader interested in the paintings. The plot involves someone who is slashing famous paintings to ribbons (and people as well) and before each destruction/killing sends a composite painting that contains a clue as to where they will strike next. The author draws these composite pictures and puts them throughout the book, so that the reader can follow exactly what is going on. I think the author shows promise as a mystery writer, but he is weak in areas other than plot, which accounts for the 4 stars. The characters are not well developed and many are almost stereotypes (and that includes racial, ethnic, gender and political). They just don't come off as real people. In addition, the dialogue is pretty awful. You dont hear people actually talking the way a lot of these characters talk, and if you heard it on late night TV, you'd be grabbing the remote. He should pay more attention when he's outside his own field. For example, the psychiatrist almost made me think I needed to call one. In about five pages, he diagnoses the killer as being 1) a psychopath, and 2) paranoid schizophrenic, and 3) obsessive-compulsive. All three in one? The NYPD can't find this person? He must be wearing a sign the size of a bus. A lot of the conversation had me cringing. BUT--the story was just so good and so well plotted that I was willing to overlook things I ordinarily wouldn't. For the art and the art history alone, it's worth reading, and I did not guess who did it until the very end. Keep on going, Mr. Santlofer.

With "The Killing Art," Jonathan Santlofer has written a well-paced, intelligent and suspenseful mystery with a unique twist. The author has made art and it's history feel like a character in his book by including black and white paintings by the killer who is targeting paintings from the 1930s and the owners of those works. It draws you into a world where art and it's history provide clues for the reader to decipher along with the police. These cryptic images reveal hints as to as to the killer`s identity and the actual people who will be the next targets.

It was fun to feel I could participate in the investigation as I tried to decipher the evidence, and "play detective" along with the characters in the novel.

An intriguing, thinking person's mystery which is often surprising, and ultimately very satisfying. I'd recommend it not only to lovers of suspense, but to anyone who enjoys intelligent, storytelling. Be prepared to be educated, intrigued, and thoroughly entertained. Highly recommend!

Former NYPD detective Kate McKinnon has altered her life style more than once. She has seen the worst a detective possibly can, as well as seen the glamour and glitter of the elite social class. Now she wants only to have some quiet down time.

Currently Kate is an art historian. She is writing a book about the New York School artists of the 1930s and 40s. When Detective Monty Murphy calls her, Kate puts it all on hold. Someone has slashed the de Kooning painting she donated to a museum in her late husband's honor. Kate and Monty team up and are on the hunt.

**** If you enjoy art then you will doubly enjoy the writings of author Jonathan Santlofer. This novel combines a detective thriller AND art work for you to contemplate. Personally, I've not read the author's previous novels involving Kate, but after reading this one I am seriously considering haunting a local book store in hopes of finding them. A terrific tale that will keep you reading late into the night. ****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Jonathan Santlofer's third Kate McKinnon novel repeats the themes of his first two offerings: violence that erupts in the art world and/or around priceless works of art, murders of artists, curators, art collectors, and the occasional "collateral victim."

Kate is a former Queens cop who married "up," quit her day job, and became a society matron, a philanthropist, host of a TV show on PBS, and now she is writing a book. In her last outing her husband is brutally murdered, and she insists she work as a consultant on the case. She brings to her colleagues a doctorate in Art History, thus giving the police (and readers) short courses on great artists and their work. To solve this crime, a working knowledge of the symbolism behind each painting and an understanding of the artist who created it are helpful. In THE KILLING ART, "original artwork by the author is included." This is an interesting device that challenges readers to help discover the clues and make the connections.

Kate is a mover and shaker who uses her influence and money to help children who have potential that would die if not for the special opportunity she affords them. "Talk about timing. Just after her third miscarriage, tangled in the red tape of adoption, and here they were --- dozens of kids who needed her help. Kate had seen what the program could do --- offering a handful of kids special attention, less crowded classrooms, encouragement, and preparation for college, if they wanted to go."

The plot centers on a killer who vandalizes and slashes great works of art as his signature. His plans go wrong in his second outing and he is caught; the owner of that artwork is his first kill. He enjoys it --- the power, the feeling of the knife entering the man --- and decides to add killing to his M.O. He escalates into a sociopath/psychopath committing increasingly ghoulish murders.

In THE KILLING ART Kate once again inserts herself into the investigation of the series of diabolical killings that are connected to the slashed paintings. The spouse of one of her dear friends is murdered when he catches the killer in the act of destroying a painting that hangs in his home. Kate is determined not to let his or the deaths of the other victims go unsolved. The perp's M.O. makes for an interesting twist. S/he sends a warning, via a painting that incorporates the last victim's ruined canvas, and hints at who the next target is. Since Kate is writing a book about the New York School of artists and their inner circle known as the "irascibles," she definitely is an asset to what appears to be a vendetta against their work.

"To the artists of the New York School painting was their life, their soul, their raison d'etre. For them the 1930s and '40s were defined by cold-water flats, hard work, heavy drinking; painters hanging out in bars and coffee shops, arguing about the latest trends and ideas --- creation over completion, painting as an event --- but most of all, it was a time of intense friendship and camaraderie."

At least that is how the legends and myths about this group offer up their story. The in-crowd included such luminaries as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Lee Krasner.

Kate was and is a very good cop. Her art expertise is stellar and her eye is as sharp as her gut instincts when it comes to solving crimes. She works with the NYPD and the FBI in their efforts to catch a killer. She always has been a strikingly beautiful woman who takes her looks for granted and really never uses them to get what she wants. She maintains her cool and keeps a certain amount of distance between herself and the ugly side of life she is forced to deal with. She, like the painters, is reinventing herself as she moves through the grief that is always with her. She bought a loft, had one of her protégés move in with a baby, and has created a small family.

In the meantime, each owner of each painting that is destroyed gets a small painting in an envelope that represents elements of the New York School painters' work. Kate is the one who deduces that these are the killer's calling card, and he is taunting everyone by hinting at which will be his next slashed painting and who will be the dead owner. The creepiest threads in the novel are the glimpses readers get into the mind of the murderer. Those interior monologues are chilling, yet readers will find themselves spellbound as the monster reveals bit by bit who he is and why he kills.

Jonathan Santlofer has that "special something" that allows him to wander into dark places and report what he finds, yet he always has control of the plot. The regulars are becoming more and more believable as each book brings them back. This series could turn into a really hot item as readers become more familiar with this writer.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

Jonathan Santlofer's 3rd book is even better than the first two, both of which I loved. This is a book like no others. Smart, witty, suspenseful, fast-paced. The Killing Art combines history and fiction in a most creative way. It may even encourage you to go back to learn what really happened among the most prominent painters of the New York School. Personally, I love to get a glimpse into a world of which I know nothing, and this book does just that.

Former NYPD detective Kate McKinnon quit the force after her husband was murdered to become an art historian. She was drawn back into police work when art and murder intersected in the cases of the DEATH ARTIST and the COLOR BLIND. Now she is writing a book about the New York School of abstract impressionists of the 1930's and 1940's like Phillip Zander.

One of the paintings Kate donated to the Modernist Museum was slashed beyond repair and she later finds out that a Jackson Pollack painting was defaced in the sane manner a few weeks earlier. The same person ruins a Kline painting at the home of Kate's friends the Starnetts and kills the male member of the twosome. Kate is once again drawn into a murder case. The killer strikes three more times leaving a clue each time. Even when various police departments and the FBI finally believe they know who the killer was after he died in a shoot out, Kate is convinced that the person was not a murderer just a thief and con man. Acting on a hunch, she enters a scenario where innocent people could die.

Jonathan Santlofer has written an existing crime thriller that focuses on the cliques, petty jealousies and the competition for attention that is prevalent in the art world. The small paintings that contain the clue the killer sends to the victims are placed in various chapters in the book giving the plot an artsy feel and makes the reader feel that they are part of the investigation. The protagonist is a strong woman still recovering from the death of her husband but is determined so make a new life for herself. Readers with will eagerly await her next adventure.

Harriet Klausner

January 5, 2012

This review is from:"The Killing Art" and "Color Blind", as well as "The Death Artist". (Kindle Edition)
I love a good mystery....who doesn't? Jonathan Santlofer's Kate McKinnon books definitely fill the bill. "The Death Artist", "Color Blind" and "The Killing Art" all feature an appealing heroine named Kate McKinnon, who can pull off an evening with a group of socialites who wouldn't say "CRAP" if they had a mouthful, and the next day be sitting around with a bunch of detectives and swearing like a sailor. These three books are mesmerizing. The heroine has a conscience and a heart, as well as the occasional foul mouth and a willingness to get her hands dirty. Appreciation of fine art is woven in and around the plots and characters so skillfully that I soaked up knowledge of different schools of art, without even realizing that it was happening. The murders are vivid and creepy and full-bodied, no pun intended. I will not give away any of the plotlines or any more about the characters. These things are amply covered in other reviews. My advise is start with "Death Artist" and work your way through the other two books. You will not be disappointed, except perhaps that you will be so sucked into the books and the people who populate them that you won't accomplish much else while reading them. Time very well spent.

Santlofer does it again, with this chilling third instalment to his Death Artist series. In The Killing Art, protagonist Kate McKinnon must re-invent herself in the glamorous art world of New York City. But just as she begins to take comfort in her new existence, she is drawn back to her past as an NYPD Detective and finds herself on the trail of a serial killer.

The thing that I find most fascinating and satisfying about Santlofer's work is the way he incorporates his inside knowledge of the art world into every page. His use of his own paintings as clues is both unique and brilliantly enticing. Before embarking on his career as an author, Santlofer was already a well-known painter. His symbiotic merging of the two art forms creates a product that is addictive to say the least.
Donna Carrick